All The Lessons Learned (Being re-written)
by Can'tResistThisFantabulosity
Summary: AU. Twenty three year old prodigy Percy Jackson has always been the best chef in Goode. But when his reputation is endangered by the daring Annabeth Chase, he's never felt more threatened. Deciding to confront her, Percy finds himself face to face with a gorgeous girl that he can't seem to stay mad at. Obviously, the right thing to do is to lie and say, "I'm Peter Johnson." Right?


**DISCLAIMER: **As fantabulous as I am, I do not own PJO or HOO. :)

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><p><strong><em>BetaReader: sunnywinterclouds<em>**

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><p><strong><span>-Lesson One-<span>**

_New to town with a made up name, in the angel's city seeking glory and fame._

**1.** **You should always tell strangers your real name.**

There was no denying that Percy Jackson was the best the chef in town.

His blueberry pies were baked until perfection, with the perfectly crispy crust and the sensation of fresh fruits dancing on your tongue. He was well-known for his wide array of melt-in-your-mouth macaroons and the soft, chewy cookies that he baked. His irresistible butter cream frosting and his moist, tender cupcakes were a match made in heaven, and when you added his legendary vanilla bean latte, you had one hell of a combo.

Somehow, Percy always managed to make everything taste amazing with his exceptional culinary skills. And within a couple months of opening his café, he had climbed to the top of the rankings as Best Chef.

(Percy continued to insist that his success was because of the 'magical' blue food dye that he put in everything.)

And as Goode's best chef – or _hottest _chef, as all of his swooning fans would say – he should have had tons of hungry people waiting eagerly in a long queue outside his famous café, Blue, just like every other day. A day where his café wasn't full was an aberration, and so Percy just didn't understand why his café was nearly _empty_ on a typical Tuesday morning.

(And, yes, he had already made sure that he had flipped thesign to "OPEN".)

The only customers he had were Mr. Brunner, a gregarious but disabled man who came in daily, and a slutty cheerleader's clique who were trying (and failing) to seduce hi  
>m.<p>

"Would you like to actually _order _something?" Percy asked the Asian girl who was currently groping his chest. Meanwhile, one of her blonde friends had her arms wrapped around his waist possessively, while another brunette was massaging his shoulders to try to appease him.

The Asian cheerleader – Drew Tanaka, it was, if Percy remembered correctly – placed a finger on her chin, revealing her perfectly manicured nails.

"Yeah. Um, I'll have the-" she glanced at the menu. "Chocolate croissant with black coffee."

Percy nodded. "Anything else?"

"Hmm." She leaned on the counter, providing Percy with a view of something he did _not _need to see. The cheerleader smirked. "Oh, yeah, I forgot. I'd like a Percy on the side, please."

Ignoring the girl's comment, he quickly whisked up a black coffee and took a croissant right out from the oven.

"Here you go. That'll be six seventy-nine," Percy said, monotone.

The girl pouted, handing over the money. Her hand lingered on his for a few seconds before Percy pulled away, disturbed. "Where's my side of Percy?"

Couldn't this girl take a hint? Percy felt as if he could carry a sign on him that said, "I'm not interested!" in big, bold, capitalized letters and Drew still wouldn't back off.

He snorted in response. "You're not getting it, even if you stayed here and missed school. It's already eight fifty, by the way."

At these words, the black-haired girl stiffened. "Oh, shit! We're going to be late! I can't risk getting another detention, especially when there's this _huge_ sale at Tiffany's today! Come on, girls. We're going."

She sashayed out of the room, making sure her hips swayed. Her minions trailed behind her. Flashing one last flirtatious smile, she sang, "Later Percy!"

The twenty-three year old man groaned, knowing what that meant. She'll be coming back in the afternoon.

With nothing else to do, Percy sat down in the seat next to Mr. Brunner and watched the passing people through the glass walls. He sighed. _If only they'd actually come in and bought something... _

Percy rested there for a while, gazing out the window at the loud, sunny city in New York. His eyes selected random bypassing citizens and followed them until they turned a corner and fell out of sight. He clenched his jaw tighter as another group of people walked past his shop, not even glancing towards the door.

Why wasn't anyone coming in? Usually, he had a few people waiting outside the café before he even arrived at work, which was impressively early, considering he opened at seven in the morning.

He grunted in frustration. "This is horrible," he murmured.

Mr. Brunner, who must've heard Percy's aggravated remark, spoke up. With his eyebrows scrunched together, he pointed towards his newspaper.

"Come here, Percy. I think you'll understand much better after you read this."

Percy nearly tripped over a chair as he ran over to see what the article was talking about. And there it was, in big, bold, capitalized letters:

**_HSA PEECYR JACNSKON FIANLLLY TME IHS MTACH?_**

Percy frowned. He hadn't read in so long that he had nearly forgotten his dyslexia.

Percy felt his face heat up. He tried to decipher the words as quickly as possible. _HSA, so has, PEECYR JACNSKON… his name, perhaps? FIANLYL… _Percy blinked and shook his head.

Thankfully, Mr. Brunner volunteered to read it aloud. Percy felt a surge of relief pass through him. "_Has Percy Jackson finally met his match?" _he read.

_"Percy Jackson. Owner of Café Blue. Famous for his ravishing good looks and delicious desserts. Everyone knows who he is, and everyone simply adores him. To put it in other words, he's a cooking prodigy. But perhaps he's no longer the best chef in town. Recently, newcomer Annabeth Chase has opened up a new café titled Athena's, just down the road from where Café Blue is."_

Percy felt like gouging his eyes out.

_"Customers love the new café. Twenty-one year old Matt Davis said, 'I like her fruit tarts. I needed a small snack this morning, so I stopped by to get one. There was a long line, but it was worth the wait.'"_

Percy dug his nails into the chair's upholstery. He braced himself for more comments.

_"And apparently, Matt's not the only one who thinks so. Many others state that Athena's is just as good as Café Blue. So Jackson's going to have to fight for this year's Best Chef title. But will he win this food battle? Or has he finally met his match?"_

Percy's jaw hit the floor. _What! The! Hell!_ That Chase girl was going to steal all his customers! Percy practically had smoke coming out of his ears.

However, Mr. Brunner seemed very amused. He let out a low whistle. "Looks like you've got some competition out there, son."

"Yeah." Venom dripped from his voice, deadly calm.

But in Percy's mind, he was already conjuring up ideas on how to murder his new-found rival.

_Should I send her into the Hunger Games? Nah, that means other people have to die. Perhaps I could get a time machine to travel to the future so I can get my hands on that death serum the Erudite make… urgh, too much work. Hmm… or… maybe I can get one of those shrink rays that Gru used in Despicable Me and shrink her, then drop her in the toilet so she drowns? Or I could just flush her…"_

Percy decided that he liked that idea. He made mental note to keep that plan in mind for not only _Annabeth Chase_ but all other potential nemeses he might encounter in the future.

_Now I just need that shrink ray…_

**-ooooo-**

Annabeth was ecstatic. Who would've known that her café would be this successful?

Certainly not her mother.

_"You want to open a _café_?" _her mother, Athena, had asked incredulously. _"Annabeth, you have potential as an author, or a scientist, but a chef? You have got to be kidding me!"_

When she'd told her brother, she'd gotten a similar response. _"Ha!"_ Malcolm clutched his stomach, panting. He had been laughing too hard._ "A chef! 'Beth, you're talented, but seriously? A chef! Ha! When you have grades like yours, you don't choose to be a chef!"_

The worse comment had been made by her roommate at Harvard, Calypso. _"Ahahahahahaha!" _she had chortled. _"You – _laugh _- came to – _laugh _- Harvard for this? I don't – _laugh _- know how you even got – _laugh _- in!"_

Calypso had come into class the next morning with a flourishing bruise on her left cheek. Annabeth had been suspended for a week.

The only people who were there for her on this matter were her true friends.

Piper McLean, Hazel Levesque, and Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

_"Don't listen to their bullshit, Annie!"_ Piper had said one night._ "They're just stunned by your decision! They support you in their hearts!"_ Hazel had reassured her. Under her breath, she had mumbled, _"Except for Calypso. Worst person I've ever met."_ Annabeth had pretended to hear her. And Rachel, being the fiery red-head she was, had growled, _"We'll kick their sorry asses if they make one more comment." _She'd pounded her fist against her palm for dramatic effect.

Annabeth smiled at the memory. They were only nineteen at the time, at Hazel's apartment having a sleepover, when Annabeth's sobs wrenched them awake. They had comforted her and reassured her until she was lulled back asleep. In the morning, they had all woken up with bags underneath their eyes, looking like panda humanoids.

Long story short, she had worked hard extra to get to where she was now, and she wasn't going to let anyone change that. Especially not that Percy Jackson man she read about in the newspaper.

Gods, she _hated_ him. Sure, they'd never met, but as the owners of the two most successful cafés in Goode, it wasn't like she could _not_ hate him.

He probably hated her, too. Why wouldn't he, after another café had stolen all of his customers?

Annabeth smirked at that.

Now he was probably out for revenge. The worst he could do would be take some of her customers. But as much as Annabeth wanted to say that wouldn't happen, she couldn't. In fact, the only reason she had gained so many customers that day was because Matt had brought Goode's entire football team and cheerleading squad over because he saw a 'hot blonde', as he put it, through the windows of the shop. Annabeth shuddered. She was _not_ going to seduce men into eating at her café, so she had to step up her game.

Perhaps she could learn to make something more impressive, that Percy didn't have. She'd have to stop by his café one day to see what he sold – maybe purchase a coffee to see why it was so 'legendary'. Maybe he got his coffee beans from somewhere different, or maybe he added different spices into his pumpkin lattes –

Her thoughts were interrupted by the ringing bell on the door, announcing someone's entrance. She looked up to see who it was.

A man in his early twenties had stormed into the café.

He carried a strange… _device_, if you could call it that, which looked like a bundle of blue paper wrapped together with tape. Under usual circumstances, Annabeth would be trying very hard to determine what it was, but she was distracted by something else she'd noticed that mattered much more – the man holding the device.

And for the first time in a long time, Annabeth Chase, a single woman who never really bothered with handsome men in her life, secretly found this stranger _very_ attractive.

**-ooooo-**

Percy guessed that he didn't look very cool with his home-made shrink ray. That wasn't really important, though, because Percy thought that it was a good plan, and that it would work.

But was Percy right? _No_.

A _shrink ray_? What was he _thinking_? He should've gone with the Hunger Games idea! He could've sent in a couple other of his enemies.

And his shrink ray doesn't even work. It was pathetic. You'd think that WikiHow's instructions would provide him with a better end-result but no, what did he end up with? A stupid, malfunctioning, hideous pile of paper.

Upset, he pushed open the door of Athena's and stepped in.

Turns out the journalist left out a really important part; Annabeth was gorgeous. She had shiny, honey-colored hair, and thick eyelashes that framed her intimidating grey eyes. She was curvy, and had sun-kissed skin that was evenly tanned. With her ridiculously long legs and her perfect complexion, she looked like a supermodel. And she had these beautiful princess curls that cascaded down her back that Percy just wanted to _touch._ As he took her in, Percy decided that there were other parts of her that he'd like to touch too.

He shook his head in frustration. _Urgh!_ Stupid hormones! He wasn't here to ogle at his enemy, he was here to _confront_ her!

_But you don't have to confront her! Talk to her! You know you want to!_ Suddenly there was a devil on his shoulder. _She's too pretty to let go!_

_No, bad Percy! _an angelic voice sang. _You can't fall in love with your enemy! This can only end badly!_

_Come on, Perce, at least talk to her, _the devil persuaded.

Percy might end up in hell one day, but who cared, eh? He had already eaten enough blue cookies to die happy.

"Hi?"

He wanted to face-palm. _Great way to start a conversation._

"The café's closed," the blonde deadpanned.

"That's not what I'm here for."

The blonde shot him a skeptical look.

"Well, I-er, I wasn't working, and I thought I'd stop by to visit this café and, uh, get to know you." Percy gave her a nervous grin.

Annabeth walked towards him, scrutinizing him carefully. "Who are you, really?"

_Uh, who are you, Percy? Who would want to get to know Annabeth? Think fast – who?_ Percy scratched behind his neck awkwardly. "Alright. I'm…" _Think, Percy, think! _"A journalist. I work for the Goode paper, and I need a good report on you before my co-worker gets one." He let himself calm a little. Hopefully, she would buy his excuse.

Annabeth arched an eyebrow. "Journalist. Well… okay."

Percy let out the breath he didn't know he was holding in. "Really? Wow!" His face lit up. "When would you be available?"

The blonde bit her lip, a pensive yet cute look on her face. "Sunday," she finally said. "Meet me here."

Percy rubbed his neck, and stared at the ground. "Uh, do you maybe, want to do it through lunch? I know this really nice sushi place, and if you want to go, you know, I could take you but if you don't that's okay, I'll just meet you here but the sushi place is amazing and-"

Annabeth cut off Percy's rambling, a twinkle in her eyes. "Sure. Just meet me here at eleven."

Percy nodded, in a slight trance.

Meanwhile, the angel on his shoulder reappeared, fuming. _Wait, what? Percy, we both know that this isn't the right choice! _

The tiny red creature on his other shoulder just stuck his tongue out. _Everyone knows that you should listen to a devil's advice. Not some Goode-y two shoes like you. _The devil laughed. _Ha, see what I did there?_

The angel ignored his joke. _Percy, don't! It's going to hurt both of you! Just walk out like nothing happened. _The angel pleaded.

The green-eyed man frowned, knowing the angel was right. He opened his mouth to speak, but Annabeth stared at him, gray eyes calculating and beautiful. Percy suddenly didn't regret asking her.

Percy shifted awkwardly. "Um, well… I'll see you Sunday!" He turned towards the door, but Annabeth's hand pushed his shoulder back to face her. His skin felt like it was on fire.

"Sorry," Annabeth said, not sounding particularly apologetic. "I didn't catch your name. I'm Annabeth Chase, but I'm guessing you already know that." She stuck out her hand.

And right there, Percy had a mini-panic attack. _Your name. _"Uh… My name's…"

Annabeth quirked an eyebrow at him. "Is it really that hard?"

_Yes_, he wanted to say. _It's hard to tell you my real name because you're probably going to never want to see me again._

The devil spoke up again, an sly smirk on his face. _Who said you have to tell her your real name?_

Well, that made things a lot easier. "I'm Peter Johnson." Percy declared, and shook her hand, trying to ignore the tingling rushing up his arm.

The corner of Annabeth's mouth curled into a half-smile. "Okay, _Peter Johnson_, I'll see you on Sunday for the interview."

Then she spun around and disappeared into the backroom.

Pulling the café's door open, Percy groaned. What had he gotten himself into?

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><p><strong>AN: My awesome Beta is sunnywinterclouds. She's great at writing, absolutely hilarious, super smart, and she loves puns. ****So check out her stuff if you haven't already (she's, like, famous on this site) - she's fantabulous! :)  
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**I'd also like to thank Writer432 for talking me into publishing this early. Thanks! **

**Thanks for reading! :) Review, favourite, and follow! **


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